Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. SWOT Analysis / Matrix

Business Essays, Term Papers & Research Papers

SWOT analysis is a vital strategic planning tool that can be used by Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. managers to do a situational analysis of the firm . It is an important technique to map out the present Strengths (S), Weakness (W), Opportunities (O) & Threats (T) Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. is facing in its current business environment.

The Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. is one of the leading firms in its industry. Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. maintains its prominent position in market by critically analyzing and reviewing the SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis a highly interactive process and requires effective coordination among various departments within the organization such as – marketing, finance, operations, management information systems and strategic planning.

The SWOT Analysis framework facilitates an organization to identify the internal strategic factors such as -strengths and weaknesses, & external strategic factors such as - opportunities and threats. It leads to a 2X2 matrix – also called SWOT Matrix.

The Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis / Matrix enables the managers of the Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. to develop four types of strategies:

SO (strengths-opportunities) Strategies

WO (weaknesses-opportunities) Strategies

ST (strengths-threats) Strategies

WT (weaknesses-threats) Strategies

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

The central purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that an organization can utilize to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. SWOT Analysis

As one of the leading organizations in its industry, Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. has numerous strengths that enable it to thrive in the market place. These strengths not only help it to protect the market share in existing markets but also help in penetrating new markets. Based on Fern Fort University extensive research – some of the strengths of Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. are –

Successful track record of integrating complimentary firms through mergers & acquisition. It has successfully integrated number of technology companies in the past few years to streamline its operations and to build a reliable supply chain.

Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.

Strong Free Cash Flow – Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. has strong free cash flows that provide resources in the hand of the company to expand into new projects.

High level of customer satisfaction – the company with its dedicated customer relationship management department has able to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction among present customers and good brand equity among the potential customers.

Strong Brand Portfolio – Over the years Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. has invested in building a strong brand portfolio. The SWOT analysis of Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. just underlines this fact. This brand portfolio can be extremely useful if the organization wants to expand into new product categories.

Strong distribution network – Over the years Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. has built a reliable distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.

Successful track record of developing new products – product innovation.

Superb Performance in New Markets – Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. has built expertise at entering new markets and making success of them. The expansion has helped the organization to build new revenue stream and diversify the economic cycle risk in the markets it operates in.

Weakness of Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. can improve upon. Strategy is about making choices and weakness are the areas where a company can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

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Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. is spending above the industry average on Research and Development, it has not been able to compete with the leading players in the industry in terms of innovation. It has come across as a mature firm looking forward to bring out products based on tested features in the market.

The marketing of the products left a lot to be desired. Even though the product is a success in terms of sale but its positioning and unique selling proposition is not clearly defined which can lead to the attacks in this segment from the competitors.

Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different geographies the company is planning to expand into, Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. needs to put more money in technology to integrate the processes across the board. Right now the investment in technologies is not at par with the vision of the company.

There are gaps in the product range sold by the company. This lack of choice can give a new competitor a foothold in the market.

High attrition rate in work force – compare to other organizations in the industry Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. has a higher attrition rate and have to spend a lot more compare to its competitors on training and development of its employees.

The profitability ratio and Net Contribution % of Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. are below the industry average.

The company has not being able to tackle the challenges present by the new entrants in the segment and has lost small market share in the niche categories. Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. has to build internal feedback mechanism directly from sales team on ground to counter these challenges.

Organization’s core competencies can be a success in similar other products field. A comparative example could be - GE healthcare research helped it in developing better Oil drilling machines.

Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.

Economic uptick and increase in customer spending, after years of recession and slow growth rate in the industry, is an opportunity for Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. to capture new customers and increase its market share.

New trends in the consumer behavior can open up new market for the Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. . It provides a great opportunity for the organization to build new revenue streams and diversify into new product categories too.

The market development will lead to dilution of competitor’s advantage and enable Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. to increase its competitiveness compare to the other competitors.

Stable free cash flow provides opportunities to invest in adjacent product segments. With more cash in bank the company can invest in new technologies as well as in new products segments. This should open a window of opportunity for Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. in other product categories.

New customers from online channel – Over the past few years the company has invested vast sum of money into the online platform. This investment has opened new sales channel for Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc.. In the next few years the company can leverage this opportunity by knowing its customer better and serving their needs using big data analytics.

New environment regulations under Paris agreement (2016) could be a threat to certain existing product categories .

No regular supply of innovative products – Over the years the company has developed numerous products but those are often response to the development by other players. Secondly the supply of new products is not regular thus leading to high and low swings in the sales number over period of time.

The demand of the highly profitable products is seasonal in nature and any unlikely event during the peak season may impact the profitability of the company in short to medium term.

Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc.’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.

Increasing trend toward isolationism in the American economy can lead to similar reaction from other government thus negatively impacting the international sales.

Rising raw material can pose a threat to the Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. profitability.

Liability laws in different countries are different and Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies in those markets.

The company can face lawsuits in various markets given - different laws and continuous fluctuations regarding product standards in those markets.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc.

Although the SWOT analysis is widely used as a strategic planning tool, the analysis does have its share of limitations.

Certain capabilities or factors of an organization can be both a strength and weakness at the same time. This is one of the
major limitations of SWOT analysis
. For example changing environmental regulations can be both a threat to company it can also be an opportunity in a sense that it will enable the company to be on a level playing field or at advantage to competitors if it able to develop the products faster than the competitors.

SWOT does not show how to achieve a competitive advantage, so it must not be an end in itself.

The matrix is only a starting point for a discussion on how proposed strategies could be implemented. It provided an evaluation window but not an implementation plan based on strategic competitiveness of Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc.

SWOT is a static assessment - analysis of status quo with few prospective changes. As circumstances, capabilities, threats, and strategies change, the dynamics of a competitive environment may not be revealed in a single matrix.

SWOT analysis may lead the firm to overemphasize a single internal or external factor in formulating strategies. There are interrelationships among the key internal and external factors that SWOT does not reveal that may be important in devising strategies.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc.

In light of the above mentioned limitations of the SWOT analysis / matrix, corporate managers decided to provide weightage to each internal strength and weakness of the firm. Organizations also assess the likelihood of events taking place in the coming future and how strong their impact could be on company's performance.

This method is called Weighted SWOT analysis. It is better than doing simplistic SWOT analysis because with Weighted SWOT Analysis Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc. managers can focus on the most critical factors and discount the non-important one. It also solves the long list problem where organizations ends up making a long list but none of the factors deemed too critical.

Limitation of Weighted SWOT analysis of Cascadian Therapeutics, Inc.

This approach also suffers from one major drawback - it focus on individual importance of factor rather than how they are collectively important and impact the business holistically.